Alright, this was relevant last year. However, it would be easier to take a year and reflect on the past decade and what definitely this era musically. The top 100 of the 2000s is never an easy list to comply and you have to be wondering what exactly gives you the right to come up with a list. Well in the end it's all my opinion, so you can take it or leave it. Most of the time, please just leave it. Anyways throughout the month of December, I would give you a new blog post for every 10 songs counting down from 100 to 1. #1 will be revealed on the last true day of the 2000s, December 31st, 2010. The count down for the top 100 of the 2000s will start Wednesday, December 1st. Looking back in the past decade we saw our share of heartbreak and triumph, our share of compassion and anger, our share of reflection and carelessness. The 2000s in music has its defining musical moments. In the 2000s, we had the rise and fall of the southern style of music known as "Crunk", the era of European-style music known as "Electropop", the decline of compact discs, and the rise of digital downloads. We saw careers come full circle to careers ending on a stage in New York City doing the do-see-do. We saw the creation of legacies, from American Idiots to Hollaback Girls to The King of Pop and everything else in between. The 2000s defined a music generation as diverse as the days of the hippies. I hope that the countdown will reflect what happened in the past ten years.
To qualify on the list, the song must have been released or re-released from December 1st, 1999 to December 31st, 2009.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Music Video Review - "Runaway" by Kanye West
Kanye West's new video is an astounding 34 minute-film, which is a tribute to what has happened within the past year since the infamous "Taylor Swift" incident at the 2009 Video Music Awards. His latest album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" is set for release the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The promotion machine is rolling with his appearance in the "Today" show, which caused him to cancel his performance on November 26. However, that is another story for another day. Anyways back to the video. It was shot in Prague over 4 days in the summer of 2010 and premiered in October 23rd, 2010. The overall story shows a relationship between a man and a half-woman/half-phoenix. The soundtrack is West's album and it stars Kanye West and model Selita Ebanks. In a recent interview, Ebanks explains that the moral of the film is "the world doesn't accept, or they try to change, what is different, instead of trying to understand it." Do you think that? Well, do you have 35 minutes available? Give Kanye another chance and watch his 34-minute film
Sorry for the clean edit of the video, i was too lazy to find the dirty version. However, I did watch the dirty edit where they curse. That is pretty much it. Anyways, I personally love Kanye West's music. I try to look on the bright side with that. Also, I give him a lot of credit to really say what he is saying on his mind and this video really shows that. It reminds me of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" with a hint of "Full-Metal Jacket", which is listed as direct inspiration for the film. It has that dark feel where you are fully immersed into the world that Kanye has created. There are artists where they sing a song and you are supposedly get a peek into their secured world. This video and the whole album really shows what is going on in West's world. I'm sure after the VMA incident, he wrote this film to show what's going on with his world.
The film's title track entitled "Runaway", which starts at around the 13:23 mark, was played in full being that it is the main reason why the film was created. The video for the song begins with a dinner for about 40 of West's closest friends for him and his girlfriend. At one point, a gentlemen leans over to West and tells him that she is beautiful. Then the gentlemen asks West, do you know that she is a bird?. West's answer was "No, I never notice that", which I think was a good answer for that questions. Then the music begins and about 30 ballet dancers come running in to perform a group dance. I really like the colors and the way that the video was shot. It shows a painting coming to life, not really the extent of "Power", but it is visually stunning. It has a slight tint to it, which adds to the effect of a real-life painting. The 4 minute shorten clip is used as the official video for heavy rotation on MTV, VH1, The Music Factory, and BET, which comes to a sudden ending. However on YouTube, you can find the extended edit of the video. It has the ballet dancers performing a dance of their own with some annoying auto-tuning at the end of it. However, the visual painting is really expressed for about 1 minute where the ballet dancers are still and the camera pans the entire group, which really hits home the concept of the video.
After the video, dinner is served and the main course is...turkey. There is one reason and one reason only why this happened....spite. You hear the phoenix screaming to where the all the guests are leaving the table. I feel like that part of the video is a representation of what the media perceives West as, a spiteful bastard. The ending of the video is what the whole film is trying to convey to where West tries to convince the phoenix to stay in his world, instead of leaving. If you want to know if she leaves or stays, you have to watch it cause i'm not spoiling this masterpiece.
Finally, my opinion on the film. I think it is amazing and Kanye West should be receiving a bunch of awards for this video. If he doesn't, then the music industry is truly corrupt and doesn't really recognize true talent. There are a lot of artists out there that created catchy pop songs and created videos to where they are seducing the audience. This film shows the ability for an artist to go out of the box. I can't really think of an artist with that ability and is able to do it well. Kanye West is back with a vengeance and his supporters are letting people that he is back. This solidifies West's place in music as probably the most creative artist in the music industry right now. Can't you tell that I think Kanye West is amazing? Well, he is. I know that he has all that personal shit that people stamp him with, which ties him into the music. In the end, the music is all that matters.
Rating - 10 out of 10. Hit it out of the ball park and I'm taken back by the visual detailing.
Sorry for the clean edit of the video, i was too lazy to find the dirty version. However, I did watch the dirty edit where they curse. That is pretty much it. Anyways, I personally love Kanye West's music. I try to look on the bright side with that. Also, I give him a lot of credit to really say what he is saying on his mind and this video really shows that. It reminds me of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" with a hint of "Full-Metal Jacket", which is listed as direct inspiration for the film. It has that dark feel where you are fully immersed into the world that Kanye has created. There are artists where they sing a song and you are supposedly get a peek into their secured world. This video and the whole album really shows what is going on in West's world. I'm sure after the VMA incident, he wrote this film to show what's going on with his world.
The film's title track entitled "Runaway", which starts at around the 13:23 mark, was played in full being that it is the main reason why the film was created. The video for the song begins with a dinner for about 40 of West's closest friends for him and his girlfriend. At one point, a gentlemen leans over to West and tells him that she is beautiful. Then the gentlemen asks West, do you know that she is a bird?. West's answer was "No, I never notice that", which I think was a good answer for that questions. Then the music begins and about 30 ballet dancers come running in to perform a group dance. I really like the colors and the way that the video was shot. It shows a painting coming to life, not really the extent of "Power", but it is visually stunning. It has a slight tint to it, which adds to the effect of a real-life painting. The 4 minute shorten clip is used as the official video for heavy rotation on MTV, VH1, The Music Factory, and BET, which comes to a sudden ending. However on YouTube, you can find the extended edit of the video. It has the ballet dancers performing a dance of their own with some annoying auto-tuning at the end of it. However, the visual painting is really expressed for about 1 minute where the ballet dancers are still and the camera pans the entire group, which really hits home the concept of the video.
After the video, dinner is served and the main course is...turkey. There is one reason and one reason only why this happened....spite. You hear the phoenix screaming to where the all the guests are leaving the table. I feel like that part of the video is a representation of what the media perceives West as, a spiteful bastard. The ending of the video is what the whole film is trying to convey to where West tries to convince the phoenix to stay in his world, instead of leaving. If you want to know if she leaves or stays, you have to watch it cause i'm not spoiling this masterpiece.
Finally, my opinion on the film. I think it is amazing and Kanye West should be receiving a bunch of awards for this video. If he doesn't, then the music industry is truly corrupt and doesn't really recognize true talent. There are a lot of artists out there that created catchy pop songs and created videos to where they are seducing the audience. This film shows the ability for an artist to go out of the box. I can't really think of an artist with that ability and is able to do it well. Kanye West is back with a vengeance and his supporters are letting people that he is back. This solidifies West's place in music as probably the most creative artist in the music industry right now. Can't you tell that I think Kanye West is amazing? Well, he is. I know that he has all that personal shit that people stamp him with, which ties him into the music. In the end, the music is all that matters.
Rating - 10 out of 10. Hit it out of the ball park and I'm taken back by the visual detailing.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Music Video Review - "Firework" by Katy Perry
The fourth of July has come either early or late, dependent on your point of view. Katy Perry provides the pyrotechnic entertainment with her latest single "Firework". The third single from her successful sophomore album "Teenage Dream" turns out to be Perry's favorite song on the album. The video was shot in late September by accomplished video director Dave Meyers in Budapest. It is basically about the different struggles in life and how they can muster up the power to be a "firework" and be the center of attention and not really giving a damn about anything. Well, that's how I interpreted it. Watch the video and make your judgments on it.
The video has a lot of special effects to really fulfill the song's message. The fireworks are bursting out of the chests of some shy, timid people who don't understand what worth they have as opposed to what society has stereotyped them as. The different people are an oversized woman who is at a pool party, a cancer patient in remission, a homosexual male who decides to make the first move at a dance club, a bashful street entertainer, and a son in a troubled home. With the recent events of suicides due to bullying or just giving in to struggles of life, this video holds a stronger message than what was originally conceptualized to be. It is definitely an empowering video, along the lines of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful". It shows that everyone is worth something and everyone can make a lasting impression. The beat alone drives the point and makes the video even more epic than it should be. The video is visually appealing with the "firework" special effects and the backdrop of the European capital. The ending of the video calls for celebration of all different types of people, which in this day of modern advances in relationships, still has people who are closed-minded and suffer from tunnel-vision. Unfortunately, there are people like that in this world and hopefully a electropop catchy pop tune like this one will help people tear down the walls. The video is enlightening and a surprise from the wholesome, sexy appeal that is known as Katy Perry.
Rating - 9 out of 10.
The video has a lot of special effects to really fulfill the song's message. The fireworks are bursting out of the chests of some shy, timid people who don't understand what worth they have as opposed to what society has stereotyped them as. The different people are an oversized woman who is at a pool party, a cancer patient in remission, a homosexual male who decides to make the first move at a dance club, a bashful street entertainer, and a son in a troubled home. With the recent events of suicides due to bullying or just giving in to struggles of life, this video holds a stronger message than what was originally conceptualized to be. It is definitely an empowering video, along the lines of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful". It shows that everyone is worth something and everyone can make a lasting impression. The beat alone drives the point and makes the video even more epic than it should be. The video is visually appealing with the "firework" special effects and the backdrop of the European capital. The ending of the video calls for celebration of all different types of people, which in this day of modern advances in relationships, still has people who are closed-minded and suffer from tunnel-vision. Unfortunately, there are people like that in this world and hopefully a electropop catchy pop tune like this one will help people tear down the walls. The video is enlightening and a surprise from the wholesome, sexy appeal that is known as Katy Perry.
Rating - 9 out of 10.
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